I know a man who hates unions <br />Even though he's in the union <br />And the wage he gets from being union <br />Gave him what he's got <br /><br />He lives his life quite nicely <br />With a big house and a family <br />And seldom has to worry <br />About paying the bills <br /><br />Yes the power he got from his union card <br />And his free time born from union blood <br />Gave him a happy life <br /><br />I know a woman who hates the poor <br />Cuz she scared herself of being poor <br />And she hates that it's so close to her <br />From where she's at right now <br /><br />She hangs through life on a thin thread <br />And the pundits offer her hatred <br />To make her feel like she's elevated <br />Above somebody else <br /><br />But she knows and I know <br />She's right their in shadows <br />With all the somebody elses <br /><br />America, you can look like this <br />Raised hard by the myths of whiteness <br />Hanging with a tightness <br />To a xenophobic past <br /><br />The deck from which your hands are dealt <br />Is stacked centuries deep in cotton wealth <br />And the stories that your people tell <br />Are those of hope and pain <br /><br />We got angry men who were raised deprived <br />Emotionally traumatized <br />Who's way of dealing with the world outside <br />Is rage or to block it out <br /><br />And strong women who work most their lives <br />Unappreciated by the men in their lives <br />Who know what it means to feel alive <br />Cuz they know what it means to hurt <br /><br />Ignorance bred from despair <br />That's what we got here <br /><br />America, you can look like this <br />Raised hard by the myths of whiteness <br />Hanging with a tightness <br />To a xenophobic past <br /><br />The deck from which your hands are dealt <br />Is stacked centuries deep in cotton wealth <br />And the stories that your people tell <br />Are those of hope and pain <br /><br />I was raised by parents who worked hard <br />And they taught me how to work hard <br />But a lot of people work hard <br />And don't get what they deserve <br /><br />And so it was early on <br />That I learned which side I'm on <br />The one that fights for human beings <br />In a world of dollar signs <br /><br />You can call me radical <br />But I'd call myself practical <br />You know? <br /><br />America, you can look like this <br />Raised hard by the myths of whiteness <br />Hanging with a tightness <br />To a xenophobic past <br /><br />But that ain't gonna last
